Sunday, 27 July 2014

Not My Usual Sewing

The lovely sunny weather we have been enjoying has meant I don't want to spend too much time in my sewing room. My current knitting project is big so I haven't wanted to do that either. The solution? English Paper Piecing whilst sitting in my favourite chair in my most favourite spot in the garden!

These are 1" diamonds and they're all organic cotton.This is a slow project, I'm talking years here, not months, and I'm just making it up as I go along. When I've made a few of these, I'll switch to a different shape. I've no idea how big this will get. I may be in my dotage before it becomes something useful, but for now I'm enjoying a few minutes each day sitting in the garden english paper piecing!

I've also been making table runners for my youngest son's fast approaching wedding. Working with hessian is interesting. I LOVE the smell of it, but Oh how it sheds fibres! They were everywhere - the floor, the work surfaces, my cup of tea, even my underwear!!

These are my blocks for this month's Siblings Together Bee. This was a great block to make - quick and fun and all made from scraps!

This is the sewing that has taken most of my time over the past few weeks, but is not the most exciting thing to photograph!
It is a set of organic cotton bed linen for my eldest son and daughter in law in Canada. I've made a fitted bottom sheet, a flat top sheet, a duvet cover and four pillow cases and edged them with one of the decorative stitches on my machine.
These were very easy to sew and ended up costing about half the price of bought ones. The hardest part was manoeuvring a very large amount of very wide fabric and cutting it up.
The fabric is cotton percale from the Organic Textile Company

And finally, I've been helping my soon to be daughter in law make a dress to take on honeymoon, but I suspect that either this will not get finished, or we are going to have one almighty panic sewing session in about 2 weeks time!! This is the stage it has been at for quite some time. It is very pretty fabric and it's going to really suit her. We just need to find the time to get together and finish it !